Community Land Trusts (CLTs)

Formed in October 2006 from the merger of two large Vermont community land trusts, the Burlington Community Land Trust and the Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation, the Champlain Housing Trust is the largest community land trust in the country, with over 2,000 household members, housed in rental apartments, co-ops and shared-appreciation single-family homes and condominiums. Read more about Champlain Housing Trust...

The Chicago Community Land Trust (CCLT) was founded in 2006 to address the increasingly limited supply of funding for affordable housing. The goal is to preserve the long-term affordability of homes created through city programs for low- and moderate-income families. Through the CCLT, subsidies used to make homes affordable are preserved and leveraged over time to create a permanent pool of affordable homeownership opportunities. The program is primarily targeted to families earning less than 100 percent of the area median income. Read more about Chicago Community Land Trust...

Part of a family of companies that work together to serve the needs of low and moderate-income residents of the DC metro area, City First Homes aims to expand opportunity for working families and individuals, drive neighborhood stabilization, and preserve affordable housing near transit centers and in gentrifying and challenged communities. Read more about City First Homes...

The Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation (CCLRC) is the first of its kind in the state of Ohio. The Ohio General Assembly enacted legislation in April 2009 that allowed the formation of county land reutilization corporations—nonprofit entities that develop, manage, and rehabilitate abandoned or foreclosed properties. In an effort to mitigate the effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis, CCLRC ensures that vacant properties are properly maintained and sold to qualifying inhabitants or developers. Read more about Cuyahoga Land Bank...

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), formed in 1984, is a community-based planning and organizing group in the low-income Dudley area of Roxbury, Boston, home to 24,000 residents. It has partnered with developers to create 300 new homes, a Town Common, gardens, urban agriculture, parks and playgrounds. An additional 300 housing units have been rehabilitated. Read more about Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative...

Catalyzed in 1987 by residents concerned with rising home prices, absentee landlords, and housing disrepair, Durham Community Land Trustees (DCLT) builds, manages, and advocates for permanently affordable housing. The land trust now owns and manages 282 units, which provides rental and homeownership opportunities to 325 low-income people. Committed to supporting local businesses, DCLT procured over $300,000 in services from small, local subcontractors in 2017.

Founded in 1974, the Evergreen Land Trust Association is the oldest community land trust in the Pacific Northwest. The organization began as a grassroots effort to promote affordable housing, cooperatives, recycling, and other progressive initiatives related to land reform. ELT holds both urban and rural properties in the Puget Sound region, including cooperative houses and farms. The ELT Board of Directors is made up of two representatives from each ELT property and Board members representing the community at-large. Read more about Evergreen Land Trust...

Founded in 1999, First Homes provides an innovative example where a large community anchor institution, Mayo Clinic, used a community land trust model to meet the employer's workforce housing objectives. Since 1999, $14 million has been raised and 650 new residences have been built. The total includes more than 420 new single-family homes (including nearly 50 community land trust properties) and more than 225 new below-market-rate rental units. Read more about First Homes...

The Genesee County Land Bank has become a national leader in using land banking to guide community development. By avoiding the potential neglect or misuse that comes from selling land at auction, the County is able to acquire abandoned land through the foreclosure process and determine the best use of that land. The Land Bank assembles land for transfer to adjacent homeowners, develops long and short-term green spaces, and assembles land for new housing and commercial development. Read more about Genesee County Land Bank Authority...

In 2005, the City of Irvine convened a Housing Task Force to help develop a strategy for the provision of affordable housing. It was particularly important to identify a strategy to preserve the affordability of these units over the long term. To address both production and preservation, the task force recommended the creation of the Irvine Community Land Trust (ICLT). Read more about Irvine Community Land Trust...

Instead of developing its own affordable housing, Kulshan Community Land Trust founded in 1999 purchases property, in collaboration with the family, that meets specific requirements and is located within Whatcom County, Washington. This process allows the house to be taken off the speculative market and added to the many properties already within the land trust. To date, KCLT has provided affordable housing to more than 60 families. Read more about Kulshan Community Land Trust...

The Northern California Land Trust is the oldest CLT in California and has served as a leader in the CLT movement on the West Coast. Throughout its history, the NCLT has been involved in dozens of community development projects, developed more than 165 units of housing, and has more than 35 new units in construction.

Established through the joint efforts of Urban Strategies Council and community partners, the Oakland Community Land Trust (CLT) was the product of two years of planning and building community support in response to the mounting foreclosure crisis. Granted an award of more than $5 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding from the city, the Oakland CLT acquired its first of 130 properties in 2010, officially launching the NSP Homeownership Project. Read more about Oakland Community Land Trust...

Founded in 1989, this community land trust today is responsible for housing 65 Orcas Island families, with more green and affordable homes in the works. On an island with 3,100 households, this means that OPAL is providing homes for two percent of the population. Read more about OPAL Community Land Trust...

The Sawmill Community Land Trust formed in 1996 to purchase and remediate 27 acres on the site of a former particleboard factory in an effort to preserve affordability for working families near downtown Albuquerque. Sawmill now manages 34 acres of reclaimed industrial land where it has constructed 93 affordable single-family ownership homes and three affordable rental apartment complexes complete with community gardens, playgrounds and a plaza. Additional affordable rental housing is planned, as are community-driven economic development projects and a few other projects on other sites. By separating the ownership of the buildings from the ownership of the land, the land trust makes it possible for homeowners and other residents to benefit from secure housing without the risk of rising costs of escalating land value.

Formed in October 2006 from the merger of two large Vermont community land trusts, the Burlington Community Land Trust and the Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation, the Champlain Housing Trust is the largest community land trust in the country, with over 2,000 household members, housed in rental apartments, co-ops and shared-appreciation single-family homes and condominiums. Read more about Champlain Housing Trust...

The Chicago Community Land Trust (CCLT) was founded in 2006 to address the increasingly limited supply of funding for affordable housing. The goal is to preserve the long-term affordability of homes created through city programs for low- and moderate-income families. Through the CCLT, subsidies used to make homes affordable are preserved and leveraged over time to create a permanent pool of affordable homeownership opportunities. The program is primarily targeted to families earning less than 100 percent of the area median income. Read more about Chicago Community Land Trust...

Part of a family of companies that work together to serve the needs of low and moderate-income residents of the DC metro area, City First Homes aims to expand opportunity for working families and individuals, drive neighborhood stabilization, and preserve affordable housing near transit centers and in gentrifying and challenged communities. Read more about City First Homes...

The Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation (CCLRC) is the first of its kind in the state of Ohio. The Ohio General Assembly enacted legislation in April 2009 that allowed the formation of county land reutilization corporations—nonprofit entities that develop, manage, and rehabilitate abandoned or foreclosed properties. In an effort to mitigate the effects of the ongoing foreclosure crisis, CCLRC ensures that vacant properties are properly maintained and sold to qualifying inhabitants or developers. Read more about Cuyahoga Land Bank...

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), formed in 1984, is a community-based planning and organizing group in the low-income Dudley area of Roxbury, Boston, home to 24,000 residents. It has partnered with developers to create 300 new homes, a Town Common, gardens, urban agriculture, parks and playgrounds. An additional 300 housing units have been rehabilitated. Read more about Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative...

Catalyzed in 1987 by residents concerned with rising home prices, absentee landlords, and housing disrepair, Durham Community Land Trustees (DCLT) builds, manages, and advocates for permanently affordable housing. The land trust now owns and manages 282 units, which provides rental and homeownership opportunities to 325 low-income people. Committed to supporting local businesses, DCLT procured over $300,000 in services from small, local subcontractors in 2017.

Founded in 1974, the Evergreen Land Trust Association is the oldest community land trust in the Pacific Northwest. The organization began as a grassroots effort to promote affordable housing, cooperatives, recycling, and other progressive initiatives related to land reform. ELT holds both urban and rural properties in the Puget Sound region, including cooperative houses and farms. The ELT Board of Directors is made up of two representatives from each ELT property and Board members representing the community at-large. Read more about Evergreen Land Trust...

Founded in 1999, First Homes provides an innovative example where a large community anchor institution, Mayo Clinic, used a community land trust model to meet the employer's workforce housing objectives. Since 1999, $14 million has been raised and 650 new residences have been built. The total includes more than 420 new single-family homes (including nearly 50 community land trust properties) and more than 225 new below-market-rate rental units. Read more about First Homes...

The Genesee County Land Bank has become a national leader in using land banking to guide community development. By avoiding the potential neglect or misuse that comes from selling land at auction, the County is able to acquire abandoned land through the foreclosure process and determine the best use of that land. The Land Bank assembles land for transfer to adjacent homeowners, develops long and short-term green spaces, and assembles land for new housing and commercial development. Read more about Genesee County Land Bank Authority...

In 2005, the City of Irvine convened a Housing Task Force to help develop a strategy for the provision of affordable housing. It was particularly important to identify a strategy to preserve the affordability of these units over the long term. To address both production and preservation, the task force recommended the creation of the Irvine Community Land Trust (ICLT). Read more about Irvine Community Land Trust...

Instead of developing its own affordable housing, Kulshan Community Land Trust founded in 1999 purchases property, in collaboration with the family, that meets specific requirements and is located within Whatcom County, Washington. This process allows the house to be taken off the speculative market and added to the many properties already within the land trust. To date, KCLT has provided affordable housing to more than 60 families. Read more about Kulshan Community Land Trust...

The Northern California Land Trust is the oldest CLT in California and has served as a leader in the CLT movement on the West Coast. Throughout its history, the NCLT has been involved in dozens of community development projects, developed more than 165 units of housing, and has more than 35 new units in construction.

Established through the joint efforts of Urban Strategies Council and community partners, the Oakland Community Land Trust (CLT) was the product of two years of planning and building community support in response to the mounting foreclosure crisis. Granted an award of more than $5 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding from the city, the Oakland CLT acquired its first of 130 properties in 2010, officially launching the NSP Homeownership Project. Read more about Oakland Community Land Trust...

Founded in 1989, this community land trust today is responsible for housing 65 Orcas Island families, with more green and affordable homes in the works. On an island with 3,100 households, this means that OPAL is providing homes for two percent of the population. Read more about OPAL Community Land Trust...

The Sawmill Community Land Trust formed in 1996 to purchase and remediate 27 acres on the site of a former particleboard factory in an effort to preserve affordability for working families near downtown Albuquerque. Sawmill now manages 34 acres of reclaimed industrial land where it has constructed 93 affordable single-family ownership homes and three affordable rental apartment complexes complete with community gardens, playgrounds and a plaza. Additional affordable rental housing is planned, as are community-driven economic development projects and a few other projects on other sites. By separating the ownership of the buildings from the ownership of the land, the land trust makes it possible for homeowners and other residents to benefit from secure housing without the risk of rising costs of escalating land value.